| [Edit]
This page lists examples of the power in watts produced by various different sources of energy. They are grouped by orders of magnitude, and each section covers three orders of magnitude, or a factor of one thousand.
top
Zeptowatt (10
top
Attowatt (10
top
Femtowatt (10
2.5 fW - Tech: minimum discernible signal at the antenna terminal of a good FM radio receiver
10 fW (-110 dBm) - Tech: approximate lower limit of power reception on digital spread-spectrum cell phones
top
Picowatt (10
1 pW - BioMed: average power consumption of a human cell
2.5 pW - BioMed: Sound intensity per square centimeter for average human threshold of hearing at 1000 Hz; 1 phon or 0 dB SPL
150 pW - BioMed: Power entering a human eye from a 100 watt lamp 1 km away
top
Nanowatt (10
2-15nW - Tech: Power consumption of some PIC Microcontroller chips such as the PIC12F683 when in "sleep" mode. (actual consumption when sleeping depends on voltage supply used, see data sheet, Electrical Characteristics section).
top
Microwatt (10
top
Milliwatt (10
5 mW - Tech: laser in a CD-ROM drive
100 mW - Tech: laser in a CD-R drive
top
Watt
5 W - Legal: maximum power output of a CB or hand-held radio transmitter
20-40 W - BioMed: approximate power consumption of the human brain
30-40 W - Tech: the power of the typical household tube light
60 W - Tech: the power of the typical household light bulb
82 W - Tech: peak power consumption of Pentium 4 CPU
100 W - BioMed: approximate average power used by the human body
120 W - Tech: power output of 1 m2 solar panel in full sunlight
253 W (2,215 kWh/year) - Geo: per capita average power use of the world in 2001
290 W - Units: approximately 1000 BTU/hour
300-400 W - Tech: typical PC power supply
500 W - BioMed: power output of a person working hard physically
750 W - Astro: the amount of sunshine falling on a square metre of the Earth's surface on a clear day
900 W - BioMed: power output of a healthy human (non-athlete) averaged over the first 6s of a 30s cycle sprint.
top
Kilowatt (10
1.39 kW (12.2 MWh/year) - Geo: per capita average power use in the U.S. in 2003
up to 2 kW - BioMed: approximate short time power output of sprinting professional cyclists
1 kW to 2 kW - Tech: heat output of a domestic electric kettle.
30 kW - power generated by the four motors of GEN H-4 one man helicopter
16-32 kW - Eco: average photosynthetic power output per square kilometer of land *
40 kW to 200 kW - Tech: approximate range of power output of typical automobiles
167 kW - Tech: power consumption of UNIVAC 1 computer
250 kW to 800 kW - Tech: approximate range of power output of 'Supercars
top
Megawatt (10
1.3 MW - Tech: power output of P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft
2.5 MW - BioMed: Peak power output of a Blue Whale
3 MW - Tech: Mechanical power output of a diesel locomotive
10.3 MW - Geo: Electrical power output of Togo
900 MW - Tech: electric power output of a CANDU nuclear reactor
959 MW - Geo: average electrical power consumption of Zimbabwe in 1998
The productive capacity of electrical generators operated by utility companies is often measured in MW. Few things can sustain the transfer or consumption of energy on this scale; some of these events or entities include: lightning strikes, naval craft (such as aircraft carriers and submarines), engineering hardware, and some scientific research equipment (such as the supercollider and large lasers).
For reference, about 10,000 100-watt lightbulbs or 5,000 computer systems would be needed to draw 1 megawatt. Also, 1 MW equals approximately 1341 horsepower. Modern high-powered diesel-electric railroad locomotives typically have a peak power output of 3–5 MW, whereas a typical modern nuclear power plant produces on the order of 500–2000 MW peak output.
top
Gigawatt (10
2.074 GW - Tech: peak power generation of Hoover Dam
2.1 GW - Tech: peak power generation of Aswan Dam
3 GW - Tech: approximate peak power generation of the world's largest nuclear reactor
12.7 GW - Geo: average electrical power consumption of Norway in 1998
top
Terawatt (10
In "Star Trek: The Next Generation", the warp core of the fictitious Enterprise-D was able to produce a maximum power output into the Terawatt range.
1.7 TW - Geo: average electrical power consumption of the world in 2001
3.327 TW - Geo: average total (gas, electricity, etc) power consumption of the U.S. in 2001
13.5 TW - Geo: average total power consumption of the human world in 2001
44 TW - Geo: average total heat flux from earth's interior (See figure in http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/7/16/1)
50 to 200 TW - Weather: rate of heat energy release by a hurricane
top
Petawatt (10
1.4 PW - Geo: estimated heat flux transported by the Gulf Stream.
174.0 PW - Astro: total power received by the Earth from the Sun
top
Exawatt (10
1 EW - Astro: Approximate power generated between the surfaces of Jupiter and its moon Io due to Jupiter's tremendous magnetic field.
top
Zettawatt (10
top
Yottawatt (10
5.3 YW - Tech: Power produced by the Tsar Bomba fusion bomb, the most powerful device ever made
top
Greater than Yottawatt
top
See also
|
|
